


Skepticism

by Mix Stitch (Synph)



Series: Under the Sea and Stars [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Little Mermaid, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Gen, M/M, Merman Derek, Sirens, Unspecified Setting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-17
Updated: 2014-02-17
Packaged: 2018-01-15 10:29:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1301623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Synph/pseuds/Mix%20Stitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A mer… whatever and a siren show up on a beach just outside of town and Stiles isn’t sure how to feel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skepticism

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SweetFanfics](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetFanfics/gifts).



> Also for Meeya!

Stiles Stilinski believes in the Loch Ness monster until he’s twelve years old and able to google exactly  _why_  a plesiosaur can’t live in a Scottish lake.

After that, he makes himself debunk everything else, working his way through the pop-up cryptozoology book that had been a gift from one of his aunts as a child until every myth has been busted and every sighting is rationalized away with a logical explanation tucked amidst the worn out pages.

By the time that Stiles turns seventeen in the fall of his and Scott’s last year of high school, he is a shameless skeptic.

"There’s always a reasonable explanation for weird stuff," he tells Scott every time that his boyfriend-slash-best friend comes running with another weird story from his boss down at the animal hospital. "Deaton’s just pulling your leg."

But Stiles and his skepticism don’t hold up very well when he and Scott wind up facing a siren and a slinky-tailed mer on one of Beacon Hill’s best kept beach secrets.

*

At first, the only thing that registers to Stiles is the tail.

Which is… understandable considering how it’s attached to a really broad torso that looks human even if it probably isn’t. The dark blue tail leads up to a muscular torso and that torso leads up to a face that makes Stiles’ mouth drop open in shock. Something that shouldn’t exist has no right being that attractive and Stiles says as much when Scott starts walking them towards the two beings sitting on the wet sand.

Scott rolls his eyes, but squeezes Stiles’ hand tight with one of his own.

"Serves you right," he says in a light tone of voice. "I told you Deaton couldn’t have been lying the whole time." Scott pauses to hum a little to himself and then when he speaks up again, there’s a sheepish note in his voice. "Okay, well… He did lie about the coffee ban but I don’t blame him."

Stiles gives Scott a friendly elbow in the side and gets a grin as a reward.

"Yeah," he says as they get close enough to the two merpeople sitting sprawled across the sand that Stiles can see a smattering of freckles on the red-haired mermaid’s bare shoulders and bands of scar tissue that wind around her friend’s arms. "But  _mermaids_? Like anyone believes in things like that these days.”

"You’d be surprised how many people believe in mers these days."

The lyrical voice feels like honey sliding down his throat and while there’s a part of Stiles’ brain that feels like melting into a puddle, the rest of his brain is thankfully still stuck on the fact that mers or mermaids or whatever the hell is standing in front of him apparently do exist.

Something about the way that the redhead speaks gets Stiles glancing between her and her friend. “You’re not a mer… whatever too?”

She rolls her big green eyes at him the way that most people in town do whenever Stiles speaks and then gestures at her bare legs with one hand. “Do you see a tail anywhere?”

"Well… No."

"You’re something else," Scott says, glancing away from those pale legs and looking at the mer’s blue-black tail as a faint flush darkens his pale brown cheeks. "There’s something about your voice —"

The mer opens his mouth to speak for the first time so far. “Lydia’s a siren,” he blurts out in a pleasant-sounding voice. “She’ll have you guessing all day if you let her, but she’s just a siren.”

Lydia smacks the back of her friend’s shoulder and the sound of the slap echoes loudly above the surf.

"There’s no  _just_  about it, Derek,” she says in a haughty tone that is revealed to be a joke once Derek glances up at her with eyes that glow gold in the sunlight. “I’m the most powerful siren in my clan. If you weren’t pining where everyone could see, your mom would have gotten my mom to agree to marriage ages ago.”

Derek says “Damn it, I’m not pining, Lydia,” at the same time that Stiles asks “Who are you pining over?” like it’s any of his damn business.

Both Derek and Lydia whirl around to look at Scott and Stiles. Derek looks almost afraid while Lydia glances at them (and at where Scott’s fingers have found Stiles’ own almost automatically) with a measuring look on her face.

The measuring look shifts to something that makes the hairs on the back of Stiles’ neck stand on end and Lydia opens her mouth with intent written all over her face. Before she can speak, however, the sound of ringing bells cuts her off before she even has a chance to start.

"Sorry, but we have to go," Scott says, offering an apologetic smile at Derek and Lydia once the ringing dies off. "If we’re not back in school in a few minutes, we’ll get in trouble."

Stiles frowns at how Derek’s face falls. “We’re here every day,” he offers. “Maybe we’ll see you some other time.”

At that, both Lydia and Derek smile (although Derek tries to hide it by ducking his head and fumbling with the belt around his waist).

"We know," Derek says in a very soft voice.

Lydia laughs and then nudges Derek with her shoulder. “What he means, is that we’ll see you tomorrow.”


End file.
